River trips

1.55 metres ........ 11 February 2007

The river was rising on this occasion, when I looked at the gauge at Burnmouth when I first arrived, the level was at 2.8. By the time I had finished the run, and gone back to Burnmouth to finish the shuttle, it was up to 3.2. So the height of 1.55m is an estimate.

It was noticeable that there was quite a bit more water going down the river than there had been the previous week, even though the level was only a few inches higher. And at this level, the Linn is the best bit.

Linn

Good fun at this level, I reckon there are seven different routes down the Linn at this level - I ran five of them.

The main channel , ie, river left, isn`t too difficult to run by keeping well over to the left away from the diagonal standing wave - however it isn`t straightforward - the current is actually running quite strongly left to right, and you have to work quite hard to paddle left enough to avoid getting washed into the standing wave.

The second channel has two ways down. River left gives you a convex drop into very aeriated water - my approach was all wrong, and I dropped over the edge with very little forward speed, so I dropped in to the stopper almost side-on. It pushed me sideways right into the fast current. Oh well !

River right gives you a fast ramp, dropping into a fast stream alongside the rock wall. Ideally, a right to left diagonal route down the ramp should take you out to the left of the fast stream. However as usual my route wasn`t quite left enough, and I ended up going down the fast stream, but it didn`t cause me any grief though.

The third channel had a narrow run of water, with just enough water in it to make it paddleable without banging into rocks on the way down.

The fourth channel has water going down the river right side, but it is too rocky.

The left side is much better though - there is the usual hole there, which would be okay to bash through. As well as that, there is a shoulder of rock on each side of the hole, with enough water coming over them to make them alternative routes down. Neither are easy to get on to, as the current is pushing you into the hole - but should be possible if you have the right skills. I tried to get onto the right hand shoulder, but didn`t quite make it, and dropped in to the right hand edge of the hole.

All in all, at this level, the Linn is good fun, and worth spending time at, as I reckon it is one of the best bits of the river at this level.

Linn bypass

The Linn bypass is running, but probably not worth the effort, the first exit is very stoney at the bottom end, and very little water is coming down the second exit.

Wall

The wall was at a good enough level for taillies, I caught a few good ones.

Wave right hand side of wall

Yes it is surfable, but not worth getting excited about.

Weir

The middle chute of the weir is a straightforward grade 3 rapid - the water is flowing straight down the chute, and this is followed by about 50 metres or so of bouncy waves.

There are some stoppers, if they do actually capture a wayward paddler, boat rescues from below should be possible.

Rapid down to Hell Hole corner

Coming down the centre presented few problems. There are some odd bits and pieces river left which offer play potential. There are a few places river left where swimmers might be landed, but it would not be easy to get a swimmer into the eddies.

Hell Hole corner

The chicken run hard river right has gone at this level. The green shoot down the drop at the start of the run is too rocky. The easiest route down requires quite a bit of route picking - start quite a bit left of centre, past the white water over the rock shelves coming out from each side. Once past these, head right over to the right and round the corner. Once round the corner, head over a bit to the left, to avoid a messy bit river right.

Over on the left, the green wave just above the drop provided a bit of surfing.

An interesting challenge would be to come down the drop very far left, and try to get into the eddy just above the big rock. There is a hole just beside the eddy waiting to catch you out.

Hell Hole corner to Thistlebrig

As usual, nothing much in this section. The hole above the Mill is showing, but it is more of a wave than a hole, and it constantly changing shape.

Thistlebrig

Thistlebrig has its characteristic left to right diagonal current, and one or two bigger rocks in the middle are just showing.

The easiest run down is to stay well right of centre as you approach Thistlebrig, stay several metres to the right of the rocks in the middle, and then just follow the relatively calm water down through, or break out to the right into the big eddy.

The river left side has the usual playspots.

Wave below Thistlebrig

Too high for pearling, too low for surfing. Not worth the extra walk back up the dyke.

website design by ron-t

website hosting by freevirtualservers.com

+ +